However, in 1991, as part of Major League Baseball's two-team expansion ( they also added the former Florida ( now Miami ) Marlins ), an ownership group representing Denver led by John Antonucci and Michael I. Monus were granted a franchise ; they took the name “ Rockies ” due to Denver's proximity to the Rocky Mountains, which is reflected in their logo.

The Florida Marlins were the first Major League Baseball team to have cheerleaders.

In 1999, the Marlins were the first MLB team to host a game in which Instant Replay was used.

After a disappointing back to back seasons of 83-79 records ( 2004 and 2005 ) which were expected to be seasons of contention by the Marlins along with failed attempts to get state financing for a new ballpark, the team began a controversial dumping of players for prospects.

The Marlins were asked about ace Dontrelle Willis after his Cy Young caliber campaign in 2005 amid the " Market Correction " but rejected an offer from the Detroit Tigers that would have landed them now 4 × MLB All-Star and 2011 AL MVP pitcher Justin Verlander and five-tool outfielder Curtis Granderson, both prospects with some major league experience under their belt.

The Marlins were building upon a young nucleus revolving around Dan Uggla, Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Anibal Sanchez, and Hanley Ramirez alongside Willis and Cabrera.

Both of the LA teams would bow out because of the quantity demand of the Marlins and they again would miss out on getting All-Star caliber players, namely Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw who the Marlins could have obtained if their demands were lowered.

The Marlins were nearly close to dealing for slugger Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline but backed out after Boston insisted the trade include promising outfielder Mike Stanton.

In 2011, The Marlins brought in several relief pitchers ( Randy Choate, Edward Mujica, Ryan Webb, and Michael Dunn among them ) to revamp a depleted bullpen ; All-Stars John Buck and Omar Infante, and former All-Star Javier Vázquez were also added to their roster.

On February 29, the Marlins were recognized on Sports Illustrated's magazine for the 5th time ( 11 / 3 / 1997, Edgar Renteria who had a walk-off hit in Game 7 of the World Series ; 5 / 25 / 1998, Mike Piazza after his trade from the Dodgers ; 11 / 3 / 2003 ; Josh Beckett, after winning World Series MVP and 3 / 12 / 07 Dontrelle Willis, chronicling global warming with Willis in a flooded Sun Life Stadium.

In 1998, Henderson and Valenzuela were gone, but newly acquired ( from the 1997 World Series champion Florida Marlins ) pitcher Kevin Brown had a sensational year ( his only one with the Padres ) and outfielder / slugger Greg Vaughn bounced back after a poor 1997 season and hit 50 home runs ( overlooked in that season of the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa race ).

Despite hitting for a. 273 average in 1994, he was granted free agency after the season as the Marlins were ready to promote their young catching prospect, Charles Johnson.

The Sea Dogs became part of the Red Sox system for the 2003 season ; previously they were affiliated with the Florida Marlins.

The Marlins, in only their fifth year of existence, became the second fastest expansion franchise to win a World Series ( the Boston Americans, now known as the Red Sox, were a charter team in the expansion American League in 1901 and won the first World Series in 1903 ).

The Marlins thus were the home team.

While they've always been known as the Cougars since moving to Kane County, they were affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles in 1991 and 1992, with the Florida Marlins from 1993 to 2002, the Oakland Athletics from 2003 until 2010, and with the Kansas City Royals for the 2011 and 2012 seasons before joining the Chicago Cubs for the 2013 season.

Beckett and Lowell were among a prominent list of veterans the Marlins traded in what was organizationally termed a market correction.

When the Marlins played at the stadium, 2, 400 of the club seats and 216 suites were available.

As with the Red Sox, they had a three-run lead and were only five outs away from reaching the World Series, although this was in Game 6, when the Marlins scored eight runs in that inning and won the game 8 – 3.

In his first season in San Francisco, he managed his team into the playoffs, where they were defeated by the Florida Marlins in the NL Division Series in 4 games.

While playing with the Jays, Bushnell had an advertisement in The Globe and Mail stating Eric Hinske eats fish tonight as the Jays were playing the Florida Marlins.

However, those plans fell by the wayside as Miami focused on keeping the Florida Marlins in town, forcing the Hurricanes to threaten a move to Dolphin Stadium ( now Sun Life Stadium ) in suburban Miami Gardens if a plan to renovate the stadium were not in place within 45 days.

The Montreal Expos and Pittsburgh Pirates were often mentioned as a leading contender in the latter category and Buffalo was one of the five finalists in the 1993 National League expansion derby, which brought the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins to Major League Baseball.

The Marlins finished last ( 51 – 64 ) in their division in the strike shortened season of and fourth ( 67-76 ) in.

The Marlins are also the last team to win a World Series at the Old Yankee Stadium.

On the same day, the Marlins played their last game at Sun Life Stadium with Charlie Hough and Benito Santiago being the first pitch battery, the same battery from the first Marlins game.

The last player to wear a flapless helmet was the Florida Marlins ' Tim Raines in 2002 ( career began in 1979 ).

Jim Thome's last game as a Phillie was in an afternoon loss to the Miami Marlins on June 30.

Raines played his last season in 2002 with the Florida Marlins.

Despite the failures of Bowden's tenure, his last trade appeared to have been extremely beneficial to the Nationals, as he traded infielder Emilio Bonifacio and two minor-leaguers to the Marlins for starting pitcher Scott Olsen and outfielder Josh Willingham.

On July 10, when the Marlins played their last game before the three-day All-Star break, he gave up six runs in three-plus innings.

Johnson was the last remaining player on the Nationals roster to relocate with the team from Montreal, before being traded to the Marlins by the 2009 non-waiver trade deadline.

Van Horne broadcast the last Expos game in Montreal from the Marlins broadcast booth in 2004.

Koronka, 31, last pitched for the Marlins in 2009, which mean he is retired.

In addition, McKeon retired after the last game of the 2005 season, and the Marlins named 41-year-old Joe Girardi as his replacement.

He played for the Seattle Mariners in, the New York Yankees in and, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays from to, the Oakland Athletics from to, before spending the last year of his career with the Marlins.

He announced his retirement on October 2, 2005, following the Marlins ' last game of the season.

After a slow start, the Marlins finished the year with an 80 – 82 win-loss record to place third in their division.

The Marlins went on that season to finish 79 – 82 and third place in the NL East.

With the addition of Delgado, many sportswriters expected the Marlins to finish the season in either first or second place in the NL East.

The renovation has three phases, the first has been completed ; the second and third phases of renovation will take place after the Marlins move from the stadium.

A baseball purist ( or " traditionalist ") heartily dislikes the changes that have taken place in Major League Baseball over the years, which include regular season interleague play ( prior to 1997, the teams in the American League never played the teams in the National League during the regular season ), the addition of a wild card team in the post-season playoffs, the four new expansion teams ( the Rockies, Marlins, Diamondbacks, and Rays ) added in the 1990s, and the reconfiguration of the leagues into three divisions.

On June 16, 2010, Young hit a two-out ground ball up the middle off the Florida Marlins ' Jay Buente to collect his 1, 748th career hit, and pass Ivan Rodriguez for first place on the all-time Rangers career hit list.

He came in second place in the 2006 NL Manager of the Year voting, losing to Florida Marlins manager Joe Girardi.

On June 1, Utley hit his Major League-leading 20th home run and drove in his National League-leading 50th run as part of a comeback win against the Florida Marlins that propelled the Phillies back into first place in the National League East ; the 1-for-2 performance capped a productive week for Utley that earned him the National League Player of the Week Award, his fifth, for the first time since April 23 – 29,.

She is also a noted singer, having performed the national anthem before the Atlanta Braves vs. Florida Marlins game on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 and the National Hockey League game on February 24, 2009 between the Colorado Avalanche and the Atlanta Thrashers ( both games taking place in Atlanta ).